This invention relates to the art of performing operations such as cutting on sheet material such as cloth, and more particularly to a new and improved continuous system and method for cutting sheet material such as cloth.
One area of use of the present invention is in performing cutting, punching, marking and other operations on cloth, but the principles of the present invention can be variously applied to other types of sheet material such as leather hides, cloth laminates and the like. In cutting and otherwise operating on such sheet material at least two important objectives are reducing waste of the material and increasing throughput of the system and method. It would, therefore, be highly desirable to provide, in accordance with the present invention, a continuous system and method to increase throughput and having the capability of adjusting the pattern of operations to minimize waste of the material.
It is therefore, a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved system and method for performing operations such as cutting on sheet material such as cloth.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide such a system and method which yields increased throughput.
It is a more particular object of this invention to provide such a system and method which minimizes waste of the sheet material.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a system and method wherein the operation is adjusted to compensate for flaws in the sheet material.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improved conveyor for use in such a system and method.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a new and improved tool assembly for use in such a system and method.
The present invention provides a system and method for performing operations such as cutting on sheet material such as cloth wherein the sheet material is scanned at an inspection station to determine the existence and location of flaws in the material, the material is transferred to a conveyor where operations such as cutting are performed on the sheet material as it is moved by the conveyor, and the speed of the conveyor and the speed, direction and mode of the operations are controlled all according to a predetermined pattern of operation for the sheet material and the pattern is re-nested or adjusted in accordance with the existence and location of flaws in the material as determined by the scanning. The xe2x80x9con-the-flyxe2x80x9d cutting of the material greatly increases system throughput, and the renesting of the pattern greatly reduces waste of material. The operations are performed by computer-controlled gantry-style cutters, and preferably two such cutters are employed wherein the portions of the cutting operation to be performed by the respective cutters are computer-controlled. The conveyor table provides vacuum or suction hold-down of the material, includes an outer belt of perforated flexible material and an inner belt of rigid link structure wherein the inner belt is moved by the conveyor drive means and the outer belt is moved by engagement with the inner belt. A controlled tool assembly on the head of each gantry-style cutter moves a tool, such as a cutting blade, into and out of engagement with and in different orientations with respect to the sheet material.